The New Limits of Education Policy

The New Limits of Education Policy

Avoiding a Tragedy of the Commons

Roger Benjamin, Council for Aid to Education, US

Using a political economy framework to analyze the current problems facing US postsecondary education, The New Limits of Education Policy tackles the questions surrounding the future of higher education. The study provides an explanation of why improvement of teaching and learning is not a high priority for the stakeholders involved. Roger Benjamin explains why heightened recognition by the State of the importance of human capital in the knowledge economy will create the external conditions that will, in turn, create the need for an altered incentive system for these stakeholders. He goes on to make a case for additional positive incentives that would reward behavior that improves teaching and learning.

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Using a political economy framework to analyze the current problems facing US post-secondary education, The New Limits of Education Policy tackles the questions surrounding the future of higher education.

This study provides an explanation as to why improvement of teaching and learning is not a high priority for the stakeholders involved. Roger Benjamin explains why heightened recognition by the State of the importance of human capital in the knowledge economy will create the external conditions that will, in turn, create the need for an altered incentive system for these stakeholders. He goes on to make a case for additional positive incentives that would reward behavior that improves teaching and learning. The political economy framework used here suggests that post-secondary education is a common pool problem (CPP) that may soon become a permanent crisis – a tragedy of the commons. The popular consensus that the post-secondary education sector, the venue for enhancing human capital, is not doing a good enough job is now combined with the prospect of continued rising costs and declining resources for colleges and universities. Anticipating a national debate about the CPP, Roger Benjamin emphasizes the need for evidence-based decision making to assist leaders in improving quality and reducing costs.

The New Limits of Education Policy is an eye-opening, critical read for anyone with a vested interest in the future of higher education, including policymakers, administrators, and students and scholars of economics and public policy.

Contents: Preface 1. Introduction Part I: The Issues and the Framework 2. Sizing the Problem 3. The New Limits of Education Policy: The Quality of Undergraduate Education 4. The Future of Student Learning Assessment in Undergraduate Education Part II: Misaligned Incentives and Hurdles to Overcome 5. The City University of New York (CUNY), 1980–1998: A Case Study in the Tyranny of Small Decisions 6. The Place of Assessment in the Redesign of the Nevada Post-secondary Education System 7. University Governance as a Key to the Common Pool Problem 8. The Importance of Faculty in the Age of Assessment 9. Seven Red Herrings About Higher Education Assessment 10. Assessment and Accountability: Is Comparison Possible? (with Stephen Klein) Part III: The Nature and Direction of Change 11. A Different Scenario: The Possible Effects of Internet-based Education Solutions on Post-Secondary Education 12. The Environment of American Higher Education: A Constellation of Changes Appendices References Index